By Nick Collett
He might just be another face in the hall. Maybe another kid filling a desk. But there is so much more than meets the eye.
Junior Denys Krushenytskyi originally came to the United States from Ukraine in 2022. Denys came because of the Russo-Ukraine war. His father Ruslan is still in Ukraine where he serves in the military fighting against Russia. Denys’ mother and younger brother came here with him.
Moving away from home would be hard for anyone. Imagine how Denys felt leaving behind his home country and having to start completely fresh with a new language, customs, and new way of life.
“It’s been rough learning a new language and making new friends,” Denys said. “I was scared to make them. So it was pretty rough.”
Denys and his family had to first take a plane to Germany where they then took another one to the Netherlands. From there they flew to Minnesota which was around a 10-hour flight.
Denys’ cousins are senior Daniel Tokar and freshman Jacob Tokar. The families have been living together since coming to the U.S.
“It was hard getting used to it, but we’ve been living together for almost four years,” Daniel said.
When Denys first came here he was still learning English. In Ukraine they have English classes.
“We do learn English, but it’s like us learning Spanish here,” Daniel said.
In the time Denys has been here many friends, coaches and family members have seen his English improve.
Denys had trouble making friends. At first he was shy and his English wasn’t his strong suit. However, as time has gone by he’s become much more confident in himself and been able to put himself out there.
Trying something new is hard for anyone. But being new to the country and not knowing many people it was even harder for Denys. He started to play tennis and baseball during his eighth grade year.
He actively plays tennis still but stopped playing baseball due to getting hit in the eye with a ball. Denys had made many connections through tennis and even started a new sport in the winter of his junior year. Denys and Daniel both decided to join the wrestling team.
“I was scared to do both of the sports but I knew like one or two people so I started talking to them and then it got easier from that,” Denys said.
Head tennis coach and journalism teacher Tim Cleland has been working with Denys for the past three tennis seasons. Cleland has described Denys as “hard working.” Cleland has seen Denys grow in more ways than just tennis. He’s seen his confidence in his talking and himself go up.
Hard work isn’t the only thing Denys brings to the table. His teammates and coaches describe him as “fun” and “goofy.”
One of his teammates, Hunter Reed, described playing with Denys as a privilege. Hunter has seen Denys’ tennis skills improve and him becoming more of an outgoing person. Hunter has seen Denys grow as a player but also a person.
The tennis team members are all pretty close with each other and like to remember the spilled milk story.
One day during tennis practice Coach Cleland gave his players strategy tips for getting more points. There were around five tips they went over.
The next day Cleland told them they were going to do a five-court sprint, but for every tip they could remember he would take one sprint off. So he called on different people and they got down to just one sprint left.
When Cleland called on Denys, everyone was ready to run. After awhile Denys finally gave an answer.
“Spilled milk – don’t cry,” Denys said, setting off a celebration among teammates.
If you have ever talked or been around Denys you know he’s a quiet kid that keeps to himself most of the time. But if you truly have talked to him and been around you’ll see his kind side.
“I think he’s just genuinely a nice kid,” Cleland said. “I’ve never seen him get mad at a teammate.”
In school you might just see a shy kid walking around but when around family or friends he’s just like everyone else.
Denys likes to play video games with his cousins and just hang out. He plays tennis with his friends outside of the season. He logs on to mobile games during class when there’s free time.
Denys has made many friends from sports. Sports have helped Denys meet people and have helped him put himself out there.
Much like everyone, Denys just wants to fit in.
